I would like to shoot tethered, but want to get further away from my computer than the stock camera to USB cord will allow. I bought a basic 10' USB extension cable and tried that, but it will not allow the camera to shoot. It's passing some info through, when I start the tether LR recognizes the camera, but I get nothing but a 'busy' flash on the camera when I try to shoo the photo.

You probably need an active extension cable. Unless the original cable was very, very short, you've likely extended it beyond what the USB specification allows. Bad things (not damaging, just annoying) happen in that case.

I use 5m USB cable with my 5D2 without problem. 10 feet is around 3m, so you should be fine. Sometimes, I got the same busy blinking LCD when the cable was connected to the camera. It happens when windows detected external device and asked you for further instruction. Just click open folder, the busy blinking signal will be gone.

Use Tether Tools USb 3 and TT USB 2 cables and USB3(backwards compatible to USB 2) active extension w/800e and D3S with no issues. Prior to the active extension, connection to C1 Pro or LR3/4 would occasionally drop with both bodies.

Conner999 wrote:
Use Tether Tools USb 3 and TT USB 2 cables and USB3(backwards compatible to USB 2) active extension w/800e and D3S with no issues. Prior to the active extension, connection to C1 Pro or LR3/4 would occasionally drop with both bodies.

You know what. During a 2 hour session my connection to my laptop dropped maybe 3 times. I thought it was my old laptop that was too slow and was the culprit. Maybe it was my USB cable? Are active cables only the ones with that square block at one end, the signal repeater, where you have to plug in an additional cable between it and the camera? If the cable is 15' and less do you need it?

Tethering support in most software is flakey - and slow. My experience is it's not the computer if there's an issue -- it's the software/cable -- or both combined. My $0.02 worth:

1. I've used LR direct, C1 Pro, Aperture,, etc. All were on/off unreliable when used direct and LR (3 and 4) is SLOOOOW - on a high end MBP. I mean glacial vs. C1, etc. On LR 1Ds2 was slow, D3S is slow, D800e is outright painful.

2. Software + less than 'perfect' (as determined by the software ;&gt cable = problems. A cable that's good for any other application, if used with some software for tethered work, can cause issues. Nikon, Canon, etc., cameras- no difference.

3. If running a Thunderbolt Mac and having tethered issues - do not have a TB drive hooked up while shooting - at least with C1 Pro. Was having issues tethered w/D3s. Had TB backup portable drive plugged. Dropped connections were driving me nuts. Tried everything, no luck. Ejected and removed TB portable drive, problem stopped for rest of shoot. A Phase pro I know in area has same issue when shooting tethered with Phase backs into C1. Ran into similar issues with D800 and C1 weeks later. No TB drive, but running USB backup. Removed it, problem stopped. Now run a FW800 backup drive (no problems) -- or backup via TB or USB during shooting breaks.

Basically, give any of the software above the LEAST reason to loose the camera connection and they will. Sometimes it's one thing alone, sometimes it could be cumulative little things. Iffy software tehered process + weak signal from cable + interference / conflicts with other devices connected. Any combo of the preceding.

The most reliable software for tethered capture: Sofortbild (free, awesome -- but only if not using D800/e - known issues) and, if Nikon, Nikon's Capture Control Pro 2. Those apps running in background sucking images into a folder that C1 or LR picks up via Hot Folder or Auto Import respectively.

They are both fast (CC2 Pro sucks in a 36MP 800e file faster than LR3/4 does a 12MP D3S file...), rock solid and unlike LR or C1, if you turn off the camera say to switch lenses or bodies, will re-acquire the camera almost instantly when turned back on. What is painful is watching CC2 snappily suck in an 800e file -- and then waiting for LR4 to get around to importing it and display the preview.

A PITA in this day and age, but start with the cables, play with some software demos (or freeware) and via a process of elimination, you'll eventually get a working 'solution'.

Between the school I teach for,and a handful of photographers I do tech work for I have used a lot of camera /software/cable combos, and a lot of good thoughts here. All three can be the issue. A bad connection of the mini-USB into the camera is a frequent issue, make sure it is firmly seated and you have some sort of strain relief, a bit of gaffer tape to the camera strap making a small loop works well. Ten feet seems to work fine, fifteen with a single high quality cable, above that the active cables are needed, they are basically just a small signal amplifier run in line with the cable, compensates for signal loss over distance. That signal loss is caused mostly by resistance in the wire over a long cable, but connectors can be an issue as well, more is bad, cheap is bad. Inexpensive cables have cheap ends, more resistance and are unshielded, quality cables have gold plating on connectors, shielded wires (little braids of metal strands and/or foil wrapping) to keep from picking up electromagnetic interference, and those little ferrous filters (the round doo-dads near the end of filters).